Wigs found favour with parsons, and in course of time they appear to have
been indispensable. A volume in 1765, was issued under the title of "Free
Advice to a Young Clergyman," from the pen of the Rev. John Chubbe, in
which he recommended the young preacher to always wear a full wig until
age had made his own hair respectable. Dr. Randolph, on his advancement to
the bishopric, presumed to wait upon George IV. to kiss hands without
wearing a wig. This could not be overlooked by the king, and he said, "My
lord, you must have a wig." Bishops wore wigs until the days of William
IV. Bishop Blomfield is said to have been the first bishop to set the
example of wearing his own hair. Even as late as 1858, at the marriage of
the Princess Royal of England, Archbishop Sumner appeared in his wig.
Medical men kept up the custom of wearing wigs for a long period; perhaps
they felt like a character in Fielding's farce, "The Mock Doctor," who
exclaims, "I must have a physician's habit, for a physician can no more
prescribe without a full wig than without a fee." The wig known as the
full-bottomed wig was worn by the medical profession:--
"Physic of old her entry made
Beneath the immense, full-bottom'd shade;
While the gilt cane, with solemn pride
To each suspicious nose applied,
Seemed but a necessary prop
To bear the weight of wig at top."
We are told Dr. Delmahoy's wig was particularly celebrated in a song which
commenced:
"If you would see a noble wig,
And in that wig a man look big,
To Ludgate Hill repair, my boy,
And gaze on Dr. Delmahoy."
In the middle of the last century so much importance was attached to this
portion of a medical man's costume, that Dr. Brocklesby's barber was in
the habit of carrying a bandbox through the High Change, exclaiming: Make
way for Dr. Brocklesby's wig!
Professional wigs are now confined to the Speaker in the House of Commons,
who, when in the chair, wears a full-bottomed one, and to judges and
barristers. Such wigs are made of horsehair, cleaned and curled with care,
and woven on silk threads, and shaped to fit the head with exactness. The
cost of a barrister's wig of frizzed hair is from five to six guineas.
An eminent counsel in years agone wished to make a motion before Judge
Cockburn, and in his hurry appeared without a wig. "I hear your voice,"
sternly said his Lordship, "but I cannot see you." The barrister had to
obtain the loan of a wig from a learned friend before the judge would
listen to him.
Lord Eldon suffered much from headache, and when he was raised to the
peerage he petitioned the King to allow him to dispense with the wig. He
was refused; his Majesty saying he could not permit such an innovation. In
vain did his Lordship show that the wig was an innovation, as the old
judges did not wear them. "True," said the King; "the old judges wore
beards."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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